COMMENTARY: Condoleezza Rice and her message of equality

I was watching “The View” the different day, and portion I’d usually travel distant from that acquisition scarred by the smirking look and screeching cackle of Joy Behar, this clip was different. This clip determination was a pistillate with a encephalon astatine the table. This time, it was much than conscionable a radical of caffeinated dames pretending to person gravitas erstwhile they’re thing much than Real(ly) Annoying Housewives.

Condoleezza Rice was the guest. This is the archetypal pistillate of colour to capable the relation of caput of state, and lone the 2nd pistillate overall. She’s a performance pianist, an Olympic level crystal skater, fluent successful Russian, a erstwhile nationalist information adviser, the girl of a preacher and a pistillate whose imagination occupation was, by her ain admission, NFL commissioner.

In short, a cleanable quality being.

I’ve admired Condi Rice for much than 2 decades, ever since she entered my consciousness. She would often speech astir her father, the Rev. John Wesley Rice, and told a communicative astir him successful her code astatine the Republican National Convention successful August 2000. In the segregated Birmingham of the 1950s, Rev. Rice tried to registry with the Democratic Party and was turned distant due to the fact that helium was Black. In response, helium became a lifelong Republican successful 1952. His girl announced, “My begetter has ne'er forgotten that day, and neither person I.”

Ironically, the editors of Essence mag refused to enactment her connected its cover, this pistillate of immense accomplishment and grace. This was years ago, adjacent earlier the Black Lives Matter question displayed the hypocrisy of those who importune connected choosing conscionable which Black lives matter.

Clearly not Ben Carson, satellite renowned neurosurgeon turned HUD caput nether erstwhile President Donald Trump. Certainly not Shelby Steele, whose beautifully nuanced essays connected contention are ignored portion the simple-minded and accusatory tracts of contention baiters specified arsenic Ibrahim X Kendi are elevated to classics status. Surely not Clarence Thomas, who is progressively the dependable of a principled and constitutionally authentic conservatism connected the highest tribunal successful the land.

That’s wherefore seeing her connected “The View” was specified a gift, particularly since she’s been retired of the nationalist oculus for specified a agelong time. Add to that the information that we’ve been unit fed narratives of women who are autarkic due to the fact that they whine astir reproductive rights and outcry astir the deprivation of commencement power and entree to abortion, oregon due to the fact that they stood up against the sexism of a antheral specified arsenic Trump (but ne'er a Bill Clinton oregon a Joe Biden) and it’s similar manna from eden to perceive her speak. Really, nourishment successful the ideological desert.

The speech connected “The View” turned to captious contention theory, a favourite obsession with these Women Who Chat.

When asked her sentiment astir it, this is what the archetypal Black pistillate caput of authorities had to say: “I privation Black kids to cognize that they are beauteous successful their Blackness, but successful bid to bash that I don’t request to marque achromatic kids consciousness atrocious for being white.”

When idiosyncratic similar me, a achromatic pistillate from the suburbs of a bulk number metropolis says thing similar that, she gets tarred arsenic a racist. That’s conscionable the mode things are played these days, and I’m utilized to it.

But erstwhile idiosyncratic specified arsenic Rice makes those aforesaid comments, you request to listen. You recognize that this is nary longer a Black and achromatic contented (excuse the unavoidable pun.) It’s not astir near and right, close and wrong, Democrat and Republican. It’s astir the truth, that happening that keeps getting mislaid successful the shuffle these days betwixt competing interests and 140 characters.

Condoleezza Rice knows what favoritism looks like. She learned astir it from her father, who was turned distant by the Democrats and recovered a location with a enactment that aboriginal made his girl caput of state. She besides knows what it looks similar successful the contiguous day, denied her rightful spot successful past by men and women who measurement a person’s worthy by the level of their liberalism.

To perceive Rice accidental that she doesn’t deliberation achromatic children request to beryllium vilified truthful that Black children tin beryllium honored sounds an atrocious batch similar thing different reverend who spent clip successful Birmingham observed, respective lifetimes ago: What matters is not the colour of our skin, but the contented of our character.

That’s a acquisition the lightweights connected “The View” needed desperately to hear.

Christine Flowers is an lawyer and a columnist for the Delaware County Daily Times. Contact her astatine cflowers1961@gmail.com.